When Will You Be Home?
by chimney leaf
Summary: The stresses of life and work are taking their toll on Gohan, and when a chance for some relief arises, will he stay true to his heart? GV, oneshot


**I couldn't sleep last night, and I've had this idea knocking about in my head for a while. Gohan is a little OOC, but I put it down to the stresses of real life that would affect even him.**

**In this, Pan is about five, so Gohan and Videl would be around twenty-seven (working off manga ages).**

* * *

"When will you be home? We never have any time together." 

Gohan sighed. "I don't know." He spoke roughly; he'd had one too many drinks.

"I'm tired of you having to go to these conferences. Why is it that you're always the one that has to go?"

She says she's tired of it? He wasn't in the mood for thinking about how hard it was for her at home alone with a child and a mother-in-law breathing down her neck all the time.

"Look Videl, I'm trying to sort out our future here, I don't need this." His head was throbbing. He poured himself another whiskey with his free hand.

"Well I'm sorry for worrying about you!"

He slammed the phone back onto its cradle; he didn't need another argument with her over this. He downed the dregs of his drink and headed down to the hotel bar.

Before he did so he pulled his wedding band off his ring finger and set it gently on the bedside table.

* * *

The tall Saiyan set himself at the bar and loosened his tie. He wondered why he was still wearing the damn thing, the stupid conference was over. He hated these things, but his employers kept sending him on them. He enjoyed speaking to a few of the other researchers in his field, but his own university had the top people anyway, so he never really learned anything too useful. The entire reason he was here was because he was a show pony for his own place of work, he was a genius after all. 

He ordered another whiskey and thanked the heavens that he had an 'expenses' account. He wasn't an alcoholic or anything, he just enjoyed the odd drink when he was away from his wife. Sometimes he wondered if whether she was allowed to come with him would make a difference…he was in one of the most beautiful places on the planet, but he could never enjoy it. The university wouldn't pay for it, and she had her work commitments too, and their daughter to take care of. Neither of them liked to leave Pan with either of their own parents for prolonged periods, it didn't seem fair to the poor girl.

His drink arrived and he swallowed it without delay. As he placed it back down upon the bar, he heard a voice beside him.

"Can I get you another one?"

Gohan looked slowly to his left and saw a beautiful girl stood in front of him. She was tall, with long, dark hair and brown eyes. He'd seen her around during the week, she must have been on holiday as he had seen her lounging around the pool, occasionally emerging from it soaking wet with nothing on but a slinky bikini.

Now she wore a black dress. She was undeniably gorgeous, but…she wasn't _her_.

However, for the time being, he thought he might as well make a new friend.

* * *

Gradually over the evening, Gohan found himself getting more and more drunk, and the two of them got closer and closer. She told him that she was twenty-two, but she was nearer to nineteen. Gohan longed for the days when he was in his early days, back when he was first married. It sounded cheesy, but Videl and himself literally hadn't had a care in the world back then. 

Gohan realised that the two of them had somehow stumbled back to a hotel room, but it wasn't his…the number on the door looked like a three…or was it an eight? It didn't matter, his room was on the fifth floor.

She tugged on his tie and they crashed through the door, and her lips were upon his in an instant. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn't help himself, this was such an easy way to relieve his stress.

She tried dragging him to the bed, but a number of his senses returned.

"I'm married." He slurred the words, but he got the point across.

She looked at him strangely, it had been pretty obvious. "No shit…"

Gohan looked at her for a moment, and realised exactly what he was doing, and how this certainly wasn't the answer to any of his problems. He jumped to his feet in an instant. "I'm sorry." He left without another word and staggered back to the fifth floor.

* * *

Gohan woke with a pounding headache, as expected. He looked down at his left hand. His ring was back on. He wondered if maybe it was all a dream, but then one of only a number of vivid memories returned…the instant he had arrived back at his room he had sought it out and scrambled it back onto his finger. He had fallen asleep thinking about his wife. 

However, he couldn't smile, he'd almost given into temptation. He'd kissed a woman that was not his wife. He felt a disgrace, how could he ever face Videl again. Gohan looked at his watch. It was already noon, and he had a flight to catch at four. He wasn't feeling up for a flight halfway around the world on his own power either, the airliners were far more comfortable.

* * *

After checking on his daughter, he made his way to his own room. He could see her outline underneath the covers of their shared bed…she didn't look asleep, but he pretended that he didn't know and acted as though he was trying not to wake her. 

Silently he stripped to his boxers and slipped into the large bed beside her, her body facing away from him. With his enhanced vision, he could see that she was trying to pretend to be asleep. A slight smile graced his face, she had always been useless at doing that.

With an outstretched hand he swept a few strands of her long hair back from her face and leant over her body to softly kiss her cheek.

Videl felt his rough stubble, obviously he hadn't shaved for a couple of days. She could smell alcohol on him, he always drank when he was alone on the plane or in the hotel. She loved it when he had a bit of stubble, it was hard to explain, in a way it made her feel safe. Also, his mother hated it, she thought it made him look scruffy, so she loved it by default, just to disagree with Chichi on principle.

Her left hand reached behind her and stroked his cheek. He nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck and mumbled.

"What?" She whispered.

"I missed you." He stroked her stomach with his large hand, and she got the same butterflies in her stomach that he had given her when they were seventeen.

"I missed you too."

"I'm sorry." He wasn't about to admit to his moment of weakness, at least not in that moment. "I was only thinking of myself."

"That's not true, you only want what's best for us. If it wasn't for your job, we wouldn't have what we have."

"I'm so lucky to have you." He did feel lucky, he was married to _Videl Satan_ for goodness' sake. What more could he ask for? He kissed her cheek and she giggled as his facial hair tickled her soft skin.

She rolled over and buried herself in his chest when his arms wrapped themselves tightly around her body. The Saiyan inhaled the scent of his woman's hair. It was as intoxicating as ever to his senses.

"Tomorrow we'll do something, just the three of us."

"Good, Pan's missed you so much this week."

Gohan kissed her lips gently. "Do you want to do something tonight, just the two of us?"

* * *

**What did you think? I tried not to make Gohan too OOC. but every marriage has its ups and downs, even a fairytale marriage such as this one. Also, he was drunk, he didn't really know what he was doing, so you can let me off for that one...right? One kiss isn't worth much these days, unless it means something, that's the point of the kiss between Gohan and Videl at the end, it shows that their relationship is special.**


End file.
